Well yesterday was a landmark for my family - all of my immediate blood relations over four generations in one room at once. Sounds impressive but it's only five people (I do have a host of cousins etc so we aren't such a tiny family really) Anyhow I spent about three hours holding a very well behaved grandson as two exhausted parents failed to summon energy for more than drinking tea!

Whew! Like my old baseball hero, Mickey Mantle, said: "If I'd known I was gonna get this old, I'da taken better care of myself!"

Well, I'm not old... compared to trees, or mountains, right?

I hope everyone has a great day, and thanks all for your comments and friendship. Also, thanks to Princess Chelsea for the skype Birthday greeting.

Catherine Linda Michel

I hate being negative all the time. I've been pretty sick lately so I shut down for a while. I was at the PT(physical therapist today,She had me standing between parallel bars on both feet. I threw up later not a bad thing since every time I use new muscles differently it happens. She was working harder than I was try to keep my bad left leg straight,Not a major break through, but will take what comes my way. But for a short while before I abused their trash can(again)I was standing up and swaying between feet. Using my good arm (for balance and good leg to stand between the bars.

For my fans (I still have fans, I think), just to let you know that it still will be awhile before I have more for you guys to read, as real life is eating into my writing spoons.

But I will still check in and leave kudos and comments as I can ...

I just returned home from overeating at a local Chinese all you can eat buffet. The food is great 7 the place is clean. First plate was 10 shrimp, 2 fish fillets, 2 lobster rolls and crab/cheese casserole. Second plate was a slice of ham, mashed potatoes, gravy with meat balls and broccoli & cheese casserole. Third plate was a slice of cheese cake, a piece of chocolate cake, a slice of pineapple, and an orange wedge. Fourth plate (8") was peach slices and 3 halved bananas covered in cherry sauce. That was buried in 2 inches of chocolate soft serve ice cream topped with peanuts.

Had a friend who works at a store I shop at ask me if I watch RuPaul's Drag Race. She assumed that because I'm trans that of course I do.

I told her no. That I hated the show, that I would turn it to the worst Z-movie in the world before I'd watch it. She laughed and asked me why.

Next weekend I'll be going offline.
Until I can find an isp that isn't using a security nightmare single signon scheme for accessing services.
and ALL single signon services are a security nightmare, 1 database for criminals to target to gain massive amounts of data on everyone using it.
Facebook, Google, MS, yahoo accounts all fall into this classification.

and I doubt I'll be looking very hard for an isp

Update...

My aunt got through her surgery okay, and is going to be looked after by family while she recovers. It doesnt mean she's totally out of the woods yet, but things are looking up.

If my extended family has a knack, its to make a bad situation worse.

My aunt is going into the hospital on Thursday to get treated for cancer in her uterus, and two of my other aunts decided that wasn't enough stress, so they started fighting over who will look after my aunt when she gets out of the hospital.

Sighs ...

I didn't blog here for more than four years... :-(

Many thinks happened during this time:
I removed my old "disguise" completely after Halloween 2013. Fortunately there were no problems at all at work and in my private life.
August 2014 the status and name change was finalized, including my birth certificate.

I got scary angry today and managed to break a shovel in half.

Sighs ... all the work I've done on trying to get a handle on myself, and I still do stuff like this ...

This past Saturday afternoon, my Inbound freight manager, a beautiful woman by the name of Dana, and I boarded a plane in Charlotte, NC, headed for Phoenix, AZ. Beyond our good timing at escaping the bizarre ritualistic festival surrounding Billy Graham’s funeral in Charlotte, we were headed to Phoenix for the annual RILA gathering which was scheduled there this year

Alright first blog. Blog blog. Sorry I left some stuff unfinished and may not have responded to messages, I was feeling bad about my writing and was avoiding logging in for a while because of anxiety. Plus I'm pretty busy with school.

Honestly, with some of the stuff I posted I was hoping it being posted would motivate me to work on it, but nope. So some of the stuff I just have no ideas of how to continue while remaining interesting.

My sister in law had to put down one of her cats today. Needless to say, we're all sad here.

Yeah, it may be warm and sunny outside, but here in my world it’s just another dreary, rainy day.

I had a really good weekend last weekend, spending five days at home in Upstate NY with my wife and family. My wife Emilia and I spent several really good days together - nothing special, just some shopping, riding in the car, a few quiet meals with just the two of us, just talking and enjoying being together. I surprised her with a Valentine’s Day gift early as I knew I wouldn’t be home on the 14th, and she actually bought me a little something in return on Saturday.

Hey everyone,

I know it has been quiet around me lately.
The good news is that most of my work related troubles are resolved.
I am also nearly finished with my big move into a new apartment.

However, there is still one hurdle in my way.
Changing my landline (and DSL) will take two weeks.
So today will be the last day I have regular internet access at either home.
I should be back online on the first of March.

Just letting everybody know that my brother is home, and beginning the long slow recovery/rehab process. And apparently, that was good enough for my muse to send me another little story to share with you all:

https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/fiction/73081/rivers-babylon-...

To

My old friends and to the many new people who have joined since going MIA.

Or so the saying goes. But after yesterday I am not so sure about that.

I've done this before, and I'm sorry to need to do this again, but I really need some positive thoughts in my head, so if I have ever done anything that made your day better, could you remind me now?

on a day when I needed a pick-me-up, I got three. First, two different people mistook me for my mom when I answered the phone, and then while on a walk with Lady, a nice man said "you two ladies have a nice day".

You gotta celebrate the little victories cause you never know when or even if the big victories will happen.

As it is supposed to be super cold here the next couple of days, I'm going to stay in as much as possible. I'm just wondering if anybody would like to share their "snow day" activities - the stuff they would do if stuck inside for a day or more?

I would like to get back to writing, but that terrible thing Real Life has been acting up. My mom's been super sick and still recovering from her burn, I am not 100% well myself although I might be better off than my mom because I got the flu shot, plus the usual list of stresses that seem to be doing their best to keep me in a funk.